5 at Adams garner grants

Students awarded for science research

Students awarded for science research

January 04, 2006|JIM MEENAN Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- A cure for cancer. A new energy source. These are some of the interests of five Adams High School seniors who recently were rewarded grants of up to $300 from American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Indiana Academy of Science made the selections. All told, Adams science students have won 156 grants in recent years. "We are elated when these kids earn research grants," Nevin Longenecker, science teacher at Adams, said. "It is very exemplary for the high school level. "It bodes well for the program and the tremendous large number of exemplary students who have done research." The students receiving grants and their upcoming subject matter are:

Eric Blom for Construction of a Prototype Model of an Anode Embedded Enzymatic Fuel Cell.

Jordan Hurwich for Evaluating the Usefulness of Carbon Nanotube Catalyst Support in a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell.

Stephen Veldman for Development of a Biofilm Permeable Reactive Barrier to Aid in the Removal of Benzene from Contaminated Ground Water.

Lisa Huang for Measuring the Antioxidants Potential of Soy Isoflavones.

Christopher Tidmarsh for Evaluating the use of Waste Material Containing Organic Matter to Produce Power in Microbial Fuel Cells. For Huang, getting her first science grant was a thrill. "I am pretty excited about it," she said of the nearly $100 grant. "I actually wanted to see how soy could prevent cancer. But the procedures are too difficult. It's impossible for a high school lab to do something like this. So I want to measure the anti-oxidants potential." For Tidmarsh, also a first-time recipient of a science grant, it feeds off of an experiment he did a year ago in the class. "And I decided I might want to test more or different substances with it this year," he said. "I am interested in fuel cells as an alternative source of energy, and I decided to work with microbial fuel cells containing micro-organisms to break down the substrate that sometimes can be used as energy." Just last summer, Tidmarsh attended a summer camp at the University of Michigan for math and science scholars, where he studied alternative energy sources. For Adams, the five grants add to its strong science tradition. That started in the 1960s, long before he got there, Longenecker stressed. Staff writer Jim Meenan: jmeenan@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6342